Veritas Backup Exec 16: Two major supporting features shine
By Brien Posey
In version 16, Veritas Technologies has given Backup Exec a new user interface and logo. If you look beneath this fresh coat of paint, you will find that, like previous versions, Veritas Backup Exec 16 includes an impressive collection of new features. Two of these truly stand out.
Broad support for Windows Server 2016
Backup Exec 16 features newly added support for Windows Server 2016. It is easy to dismiss Windows Server 2016 support as little more than a checklist item, but there are actually a number of reasons why the added support is significant.
Veritas has added support for the core operating system (OS), as well as many of the new features Microsoft introduced in this Windows Server release. Most notably, Backup Exec 16 supports containers. The software allows admins to back up and restore both containers and container OSes. Other notable OS features supported in Backup Exec 16 are Storage Replica volumes (both source and destination volumes), Resilient File System volumes and dedupe volumes. It is worth noting that support for Nano Server is conspicuously absent.
Veritas Backup Exec 16 includes full support for protecting the 2016 version of Hyper-V. Backup Exec 16 can perform full, incremental and differential backups of Hyper-V and protect a host and all of its virtual machines (VMs) with a single agent. Backup Exec 16 also supports instant VM recovery for Hyper-V.
Veritas supports not only the Windows Server 2016 OS, but the 2016 versions of some of the Microsoft server applications that could potentially run on these servers. Specifically, Backup Exec 16 includes support for SQL Server 2016 and Exchange Server 2016. Veritas has also added support for many of the latest cumulative updates and service packs for various versions of SQL Server, Exchange Server and SharePoint.
This Veritas video explains how to configure Azure cloud storage targets in Backup Exec 16.
Veritas Backup Exec 16 is designed to work with the Azure cloud in several ways.
The software includes disk-to-cloud support. Backup Exec allows Azure storage to be used as a backup target. When doing so, Backup Exec encrypts the data, both in flight and at rest.
Backup Exec features disk-to-disk-to-cloud support. When this architecture is used, backups are made to an on-site backup appliance and then replicated to the Azure cloud. This allows data to be recovered quickly from a local backup, but also provides the ability to restore data from the cloud in the event something happens to the local backup. Architecturally, this approach is very similar to disk-to-disk-to-tape, except the off-site backup copy resides on Azure storage instead of on tape.
Veritas Backup Exec 16 works with Azure in a cloud-to-cloud architecture. This architecture can be thought of as cloud-only. It allows Backup Exec to be hosted within the Azure cloud. Cloud-based backup servers can protect workloads running on Azure or on a different cloud. Veritas has also made it possible to replicate backups between clouds by using colocation centers.